Applied Kinesiology - is it dangerous?

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Massage and spiritualism are two very, very different things.
Indeed. Massage can be a purely physical type of therapy. It’s often done by PTs or PTAs in addition to nurse therapists. It’s unfortunately also done by a ridiculous amount of neo-pagans. They often get into Reiki, Reflexology, acupressure (including the belief system revolving around Qi)…
 
I did not write the document, not consult what would be listed. Your debate is with the Church.

Heck, before my conversion, went to a practitioner of “bodywork” and it did work. The opinion that these practices are efficacious or not does not matter. To draw a parallel, contraception is efficacious, however, that does not change that contraception is intrinsically disordered.

It is an act of humility to say “you know, I really liked the pain relief I received from bodywork, however, I will find something that is not a spiritual danger.” I would rather be in pain than go back to that practitioner.
 
And even we Americans are to understand the danger presented.
 
I did not write the document, not consult what would be listed. Your debate is with the Church.
There’s no “debate with the Church” here. It’s pretty obvious there’s a difference between massage done at a health spa or even performed by a massage therapist on medical advice (my doctor would recommend such things for a pulled muscle), and massage done by some New Age practitioner. My mother saw a massage therapist for a year to help her get over the death of my dad. I can assure you there was nothing New Age about it. She was full of stress and needed to lose some of the physical tension.

The only reason I’m bothering to post in this thread is that I don’t want new Catholics or non-Catholics reading this and thinking they’ve sinned by going to the spa for a relaxing massage or worse yet, by participating in a 12-step program for an addiction. Next we will have a thread on “I went to a 12-step program for AA held in my church hall, is my pastor breaking the Church rules and is this a sin?”
 
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which many Catholic parishes actually host.
AA can become a religion unto itself. I’ve seen it happen with people. Courts have ruled that AA is a Religious Body.

https://wejoy.org/readings/Griffin v Coughlin Supreme Court Rules AA a Religion.pdf
Next we will have a thread on “I went to a 12-step program for AA held in my church hall, is my pastor breaking the Church rules and is this a sin?”
I’d hope more and more parishes will consider hosting Calix Society meetings. This is a Catholic group which approaches AA with Catholicism.
 
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So are you actually going to advise people “don’t go to AA because you’re violating this Vatican document”? I would hope not because you are being ridiculous. Many of the AA and NA programs in my area - which we sorely need as people are struggling with these addictions - are held in the local Catholic churches. I don’t think anybody, including the clergy at these churches, is worrying about them becoming “a religion unto themselves”. We need to get people sober and keep them sober so they don’t die.

The Catholic Church is not against AA or NA.
 
I have known many people who visited chiropractors for their neck and back. Not one of them regarded it as a “religion”, nor did any of their practitioners do any more than crack a back.

You can pick holes in anything if you look hard enough. There is no need to create additional anxiety about sins in people who are not committing them.

I’m done with this thread - I don’t think I need to keep repeating the same thing over and over.
 
Way I see it:

I have a pair of crystal bookends. Some people believe in crystals as part of a spiritual healing earth religion sort of thing. But me owning a pair of crystals isn’t dangerous to me just because some people think they have magic powers - I own them because I think shiny rocks are pretty.

I do not think the vatican document was intended to be a list of things that are always dangerous, in that paragraph, but rather of guises that new age stuff can take.
 
Looking at the random crystals (you literally find them on the ground around here). As a rock hound, I am right with you!

This document should give us pause to stop and think about things in a different light. Most Catholic would say that playing with an Ouija board is not simply a fun goof, but, reading a fortune cookie from your Chinese carry out is simply fun.

By the same token, we ought examine the practices that oft become simply part of the American life. Examine them before we simply consider all of them “harmless fun”. I take a krill oil capsule every day for cholesterol. I did NOT begin taking it because someone put a bottle of krill oil in one of my hands and tried to push down my opposite arm signaling that my body will be strengthened by the krill oil.

We will go to great lengths to determine if our coffee comes from a corporation that does things we find to be morally problematic. Others of us see a cup of coffee as simply a cup of coffee.

Wise as serpents, gentle as doves.
 
I make my own rosaries and tend to favor natural rock beads too.

I don’t mind examining practices, I just think some of the things on that list aren’t always new age. Some variants may be simply ways of practicing medicine, while others are overlaid with new age spirituality. That applies to other things too; for example, a lot of martial arts has eastern or new age spirituality mixed in, but there are also forms that are simply exercise or self-defense.
 
my debate is not with the Church. What you did is take a tiny portion of a very long essay about new age spiritual errors to push a point without the whole document. Sure, massage, nutritional therapies, self help groups, positive thinking etc can be parts of a neo-pagan psuedo religious belief system, but they can be also healthy parts of a Catholics daily life.
Heck, before my conversion, went to a practitioner of “bodywork” and it did work. The opinion that these practices are efficacious or not does not matter. To draw a parallel, contraception is efficacious, however, that does not change that contraception is intrinsically disordered.
You are comparing apples and school buses. Alternative medicine used by someone without any weird belief system is not a grave matter. Condoms used to prevent pregnancy are. Full stop.
 
There’s no “debate with the Church” here. It’s pretty obvious there’s a difference between massage done at a health spa or even performed by a massage therapist on medical advice (my doctor would recommend such things for a pulled muscle), and massage done by some New Age practitioner. My mother saw a massage therapist for a year to help her get over the death of my dad. I can assure you there was nothing New Age about it. She was full of stress and needed to lose some of the physical tension.
Thank you for making a very important point. I work at a well new Massage chain. It’s a primarily clinical environment and I focus mainly on relaxation. I’m good at that and believe that it helps in this over stressed world.
I have known many people who visited chiropractors for their neck and back. Not one of them regarded it as a “religion”, nor did any of their practitioners do any more than crack a back.
I don’t agree with chiropractic mainly b/c it’s a pseudoscience and there are alot of chiros who still adhere to Palmer’s original beliefs regarding the origin of disease. I used to work for a chiro. I would venture to say that the majority I’ve encountered are all about the money. It’s somewhat of a scam.
But me owning a pair of crystals isn’t dangerous to me just because some people think they have magic powers - I own them because I think shiny rocks are pretty.
Agreed. I think crystals are pretty too…I don’t believe at all that they have healing properties.
 
I would venture to say that the majority I’ve encountered are all about the money. It’s somewhat of a scam.
It helps me and that is not just because I think it does. I am a frugal skeptic and would not bother if there was no improved outcome.
 
I think it can help…to a degree…but most of the time, it’s nothing more than what a massage therapist or PT could also do for the person. The ones who I am most wary of are the chiros who push the whole subluxation theory and nutritional supplements down their patients’ throats.
 
t without the whole document.
Ummmmm, the OP asked about a specific thing. Kinesiology. I posted a small section and provided the link to the full document. That is actually in keeping with forum guidelines, we are limited to the number of characters that can be included in a post.

I would imagine that the OP and other readers are capable of clicking the hyperlink and reading the document in full.
 
the OP asked about a specific thing. Kinesiology
just for clarification for everyone, Kinesiology and Applied Kineseiology are 2 different things. The first is the study of body mechanics/movement…the second is pseudoscience.
 
Thank you for replies and info everyone. The therapy in question is called Bio magnetic therapy and I can assure you that it does work. It cured me of ovarian cysts and acne. Really miraculous and effective. Strong magnets balance the pH level in the body which kills bacteria. It also cured my father of Lyme disease.

I wanted to train as I saw how effective it was. I wanted to help cure family and friends without drugs. Every aspect if therapy is positive and healthy, except the question mark over the applied kinesiology which is used in therapy.

Some Christian websites have warned again it, but I don’t exactly understand why. I’m not sure if they’re being overly ‘right wing’ and too dismissive of anything alternative.

This is an aside, but why does reflexology go again Christian teaching? By pressing on reflexes and nerves in feet, blood circulation in body improves. There is a science behind it but for some reason it is blacklisted.

I will try to talk with a priest but I need to find one who understands alternative therapies.

Thanks again
 
Catholics are expected to utilize their rational nature in all matters. Health and medicine is usually a domain of science, where treatments are carefully tested to ensure their safety and effectiveness.

Faith can inform the limits of medicine, however, faith cannot be used to judge the effectiveness of a treatment, only whether the desired result is moral. For example, faith teaches us that life is sacred, and that thus terminating a pregnancy is immoral. Faith tells us the result, the death of an unwanted fetus, is immoral, whatever means are used to achieve that result.

With “applied kinesiology” as you describe it, you are attempting to use magnets to treat illness. While the goal is certainly moral, the method has no rational scientific basis. The method requires belief in a hidden force to achieve achieve healing.

This requires placing one’s faith in a supernatural force. We are taught to place our faith solely in God.

As God created Nature, we are free to science to learn how to use nature to cure illnesses. Yet, magnets have never been shown to cure anything! Using magnets to cure illness risks delaying effective treatment, potentially making a condition worse through inaction. They may even cause positive harm if someone has a pacemaker or other medical device that might be damaged by a magnetic field.

Thus, to use magnets to treat illness, we are ignoring scientific evidence, and actively placing patients at risk! This is not rational, and thus sinful. When we ignore our rational natures, and put our faith in random forces with no known origin, we harm ourselves spiritually by placing our faith in something other than God and his creation of nature.
 
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